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Page 1: Concepts – Constructs – Convictions “Exploring Afterlife”saloncamden.com/TheAfterlife.pdf · Concepts – Constructs – Convictions “Exploring Afterlife” ... reality

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In Search of the Last Word – July 15th 2009

Concepts – Constructs – Convictions

“Exploring Afterlife”

The Afterlife: A Brief Historical Overview

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Definition

The afterlife is the belief that the consciousness and/or mind of a being after biological death, continues to exist in a spiritual or immaterial realm.

Major views on the afterlife derive from religion, esotericism and metaphysics.

Deceased persons are usually believed to go to a specific realm or plane of existence after death, often viewed as being determined by a god, based on their actions during life. By contrast, the term reincarnation refers to an afterlife in which only the "essence" of the being is preserved, and the "afterlife" is another life on Earth or possibly somewhere else within the universe.

Pre-organized Religion

Evidence from archaeological finds suggest that humans, while originally simply leaving their dead aside, started to assume a more mournful role as time passed. It is known that early humans buried their dead with care and consideration and included food, weapons, and various personal belongings with the body. Since there are no written scriptures describing the purpose of including such funerary objects in the graves, one must presume the placement of weapons, food, and other utilitarian items beside the dead indicates that these prehistoric people believed that death was not the end.

Ancient Rel igions

Ancient Egypt

All ancient Egyptians believed in the afterlife and spent their lives preparing for it. Regardless of their wealth, all expected the afterlife to be an idealized version of their earthly existence.

Zoroastrianism

Zoroastrianism teaches that the dead will be swallowed by terror and purified to live in a perfected material world at the end of time. The Pahlavi text Dadestan-i Denig ("Religious Decisions") from about 900 BC, describes the particular judgment of the soul to have taken place three days after death, with each soul sent to heaven, hell, or a neutral place (hamistagan) to await Judgment Day.

Ancient Greece and Rome

The Ancient Greeks feared death and only the gods were by nature immortal. In general, the dead were taken to Hades which was barred by the marshy river Styx. Across Styx, the boatman Charon ferried all who had received at least token burial and because of this coins were placed in the mouths of corpses to pay for the fare. Originally, only great sinners like Sisyphus, and Tityus, who had offended the gods personally were punished in Tartarus, a deep, gloomy place, that was an abyss used as a dungeon of torment and suffering that resided deep beneath Hades. However, according to Plato and later accounts, all of the dead were judged in a meadow and were consigned either to Tartarus or to the Isles of the Blest, a blissful paradise. The Romans had a similar belief system about the afterlife, with Hades becoming known as Pluto.

Aboriginal Religions

Maori

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Death for the Maoris of New Zealand represented a journey that included crossing a river to reunite with family and friends who had passed before. The path to the other side featured monstrous creatures, dangerous cliffs and fear, but once there, life would be familiar and comfortable.

Australian Aborigines

For traditional aborigines, the spirit world was closely interwoven with the physical world. Death marked the end of the physical life where the spirit would rejoin the spirits of ancestors and the land itself.

Native American

In some Native American religions, spirits sometimes had to walk balance beams and require the aid of holy people's prayers to make it to the better part of the after world. Those who made it were rewarded with happy hunting grounds.

Mayan

The Mayan view of the afterlife consisted primarily of the soul’s voyage through the underworld of sinister gods. The majority of Maya, including the rulers, went to this underworld. Heaven was reserved for those who had been sacrificed or died in childbirth.

Eastern Rel igions

Hinduism

In Hinduism, the body is a shell and it is the inner soul that is immutable and indestructible which takes on the different lives in a cycle of birth and death. The end of this cycle is salvation.

The concept of karma is also important in Hinduism. Karma is the accumulated sums of one's good or bad deeds. The sum of good and bad karmic deeds are reflected in future existences. The final goal of salvation in Hinduism is to escape from the cycles of birth and death, which can mean an eternal resting place for the individual personality in the arms of a loving, personal God, but it usually means the dissolving of all personality into the unimaginable abyss of Brahman, the unchanging, infinite, immanent, and transcendent reality.

Buddhism

Buddhists believe that the process of rebirth or reincarnation is a continuation of the eternal cycle of life. The afterlife for Buddhists is thus an ongoing process whereby beings go through a succession of lifetimes as one of many possible forms of sentient life, each running from conception to death. It is important to note, however, that Buddhism rejects concepts of a permanent self or an unchanging, eternal soul, as it is called in Christianity or even Hinduism. As there ultimately is no such thing as a self, rebirth in subsequent existences must rather be understood as the continuation of a dynamic, ever-changing process of "dependent arising" determined by the laws of cause and effect (Karma) rather than that of one being, "jumping" from one existence to the next.

Jainism

Jains believe in the cycling through birth and rebirth. However the Jainist belief is different from most religions that believe in reincarnation. Jains believe that not only can you be reincarnated into the earthly realm, one may also be reborn into different layers of heaven and hell. Suffering in these levels of hell is not eternal. Once a soul has been severely punished, he or she is reborn into another form back into the earthly

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realm. There are eight levels of hell and seven levels of heaven. Unlike hell imagery in most other systems, the eight hells of Jainism become progressively colder as they go down. The course of spiritual training of the Jains lays emphasis on developing austerity and rigorous self-discipline throughout many lives and the great philosophers of Jainism have evolved a view of the universe as material and permanent, in strong contrast to the Buddhist view that everything is illusory and transient.

Shinto

Shinto, a religion of animism believes that all who are recorded on a list kept at a shinto shrine are declared a "family child" (ujiko). After death an ujiko becomes a "family spirit", or "family kami" (ujigami). Names can be added to the list without consent and regardless of the beliefs of the person added to the list. However, this is not considered an imposition of belief, but a sign of being welcomed by the local kami (nature spirits), with the promise of addition to the pantheon of kami after death. Those children who die before addition to the list are called "water children" (mizuko), and are believed to cause troubles and plagues. Because Shinto has co-existed with Buddhism for well over a millennium, it is very difficult to untangle Shinto and Buddhist beliefs about the world. Thus it is common for people to practice Shinto in life yet have a Buddhist funeral.

Taoism

In Taoism, life and death are merely two aspects of reality, the unchanging Tao. Death is simply a transformation from being to non-being; from yang to yin. Taoism teaches that humans ought to accept life and death as complementary aspects of the Tao. Death should be neither feared nor desired.

Sikhism

Sikhism teaches that the soul reincarnates when the body dies. Sikhs believe that good or bad actions determine the life form into which a soul takes rebirth, which can be any type of life since all life, not only humans, have souls. A soul fortunate enough to achieve grace, overcomes ego by meditating on God. Such a soul may attain liberation from the cycle of reincarnation. Each individual has many reincarnations, but being born a human means the soul is nearing the end of rebirth. God judges each soul (Atma) at death and may either reincarnate the soul, or if pure enough, allow it to rest and merge with him, which is salvation for Sikhs.

Monotheistic Religions

Islam

Islam teaches the continued existence of the soul and a transformed physical existence after death. Muslims believe there will be a Day of Judgment when all humans will be divided between the eternal destinations of Paradise and Hell. Until the Day of Judgment, deceased souls remain in their graves awaiting the resurrection. However, they begin to feel immediately a taste of their destiny to come. Those bound for hell will suffer in their graves, while those bound for heaven will be in peace until that time. On the Last Day, resurrected humans and jinn will be judged by Allah according to their deeds. One's eternal destination depends on balance of good to bad deeds in life. They are either granted admission to Paradise, where they will enjoy spiritual and physical pleasures forever, or condemned to Hell to suffer spiritual and physical torment for eternity.

Judaism

After death the early Hebrews believed the soul descended to Sheol, a place deep inside the Earth where the spirits of the dead were consigned to dust and gloom. The Talmud however, states that after death the soul is brought for judgment and those who have led pristine lives enter immediately into the "World to Come." Most do not enter the World to Come immediately, but experience a period of review of their earthly actions where they are made aware of what they have done wrong with the soul gaining wisdom as one's errors are reviewed. Others view this period to include punishment for past wrongs. At the end of this period,

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approximately one year, the soul then takes its place in the World to Come. According to the Talmud, eternal punishment is reserved for a much smaller group of malicious and evil leaders, either whose deeds go way beyond norms, or who lead large groups of people to evil. Non-Jews who are purely evil cease to exist in any realm when they die. However, authorities agree that virtuous gentiles are given a share in the world-to-come.

Christianity

Christian beliefs about the afterlife vary between denominations and individual Christians, but the vast majority of Christians believe in some kind of heaven, in which believers enjoy the presence of God and other believers and freedom from suffering and sin. Views differ as to whether those of other faiths or none at all will be in heaven, and conceptions of what heaven will be like differ as well. A slightly lesser majority of Christians believe in the existence of hell, where non-believers or sinners are punished. Views differ as to whether hell is eternal and whether its punishment is spiritual or physical. Some Christians reject the notion altogether. Catholic Christians also believe in purgatory, a temporary place of punishment for Christians who have died without having confessed their sins.

Modern Bel iefs

Atheists

Atheists generally do not believe that there is an afterlife.

Agnostics

Agnostics generally hold the position that, like the existence of God, the existence of other supernatural phenomena such as the existence of souls or life after death is unverifiable and therefore remains unknown. Some philosophies (e.g., humanism, posthumanism, and, to some extent, empiricism) generally hold that there is no afterlife.